China has proposed to co-fund India’s first Railway university and handhold the Indian Railways as it takes baby steps in making the centre for learning a reality.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently promised to set up four such universities in the country, and the government is set to start work on the first one.

After a formal visit to three universities in China last month — Beijing Jiaotong University, Tongji University and Southwest Jiaotong University — Railways Ministry officials submitted a report saying that China has offered its cooperation.

China’s National Railway Administration told the Indian delegation that apart from co-funding between Chinese Railway universities and the Indian Railways, they are interested in joint development of curriculum, design of the university campus and facilities, student and teacher exchange programmes, and offering latest learning technologies to India.

The course design could also be such that one could pursue a dual academic degree, of which one part could be completed in India and the other part in one of the Chinese universities. “These programmes are to be collaborated at the graduate level, Masters level as well as the doctorate level,” said a senior government official. More info